Earlier this month, PlatinumGames began teasing four big reveals on a new ‘Platinum 4’ website – with the first two being The Wonderful 101: Remastered and Project G.G. for major consoles. For it’s third announcement, however, the studio announced an big change for its own operations.

In particular, PlatinumGames will be staking out with a new branch in Tokyo – starting in April 2020. To commemorate this announcement, PlatinumGames president Kenichi Sato outlined the studio’s mission along with this expansion. You can read it in full below:

“In April 2020, PlatinumGames will open our first true development hub outside of our main office: PlatinumGames Tokyo. President and CEO Kenichi Sato explains our new mission.

Spreading Smiles and Surprises All Over the World

There’s very little that’s more rewarding than making someone smile. We believe that games are a great way to do that – to share an experience with someone and leave them feeling a bit happier.

PlatinumGames was founded in 2006 with the goal of spreading smiles and surprises all over the world. Since then, we’ve done our best to create home console games overflowing with originality, with player satisfaction as our top priority. Fourteen years of hard worl later, we’re proud to be regarded the world over as one of the foremost Japanese game developers, by gamers and fellow creators alike. I’m always humbled when I visit game studios abroad and our peers there tell me they’re fans of PlatinumGames.

Making a PlatinumGames IP a Reality

The games industry has changed a lot in the forty or so years since home consoles first arrived in Japan. New advances in technology and networking capabilities have destroyed previous hardware limitations, and now we take for granted that you can play fun, engaging games on almost any device you have.

However, no matter how much technology evolves, there’s one thing that never changes: Games culture is about entertainment. And as technology grows stronger and stronger all around us, we’ll keep pushing ourselves to make the most entertaining games possible. Part of that challenge has always been establishing a PlatinumGames intellectual property that’s entirely ours, and we’ve finally started taking that step.

Building Development Power through our Capital Alliance

In December 2019, PlatinumGames entered into a capital alliance with Tencent Holdings. This allowed us to start work on Project G.G., our first entirely original IP, in earnest. It also contributed to our decision to establish PlatinumGames Tokyo – a pillar of our new commitment to building our power as a developer. Between our Osaka office and PlatinumGames Tokyo, we’re poised to make use of the sharpest creative minds in games in both west and east Japan, and expand to even greater possibilities.

Everyone is a Creator

Between our capital alliance with Tencent, the new PlatinumGames Tokyo, and more changes to come, 2020 is shaping up to be a very big year for us. That’s why we consider it something of a “re-establishment” year. Our driving philosophy going into this second phase is that at PlatinumGames, everyone’s a creator.

That goes without saying for our development staff. But it also applies to the “corporate creators” behind the scenes, who support them and make vital contributions to how our company operates. Every employee at PlatinumGames has a stake in creating high-quality games in a comfortable, efficient environment. This common purpose unifies us as we move up to the next stage.

The Platinum 8

We’ve also adopted a new credo that we call “The Platinum 8.” This is a series of eight principles that we all share as creators. The Platinum 8 guides our entire staff as we face the challenges of our daily work. By working together under these principles, I think we can overcome any obstacle and truly become the world’s number one studio for player satisfaction.

Building a New PlatinumGames – With You

Of course, technical know-how and skill are important in game development, but the most important part of making great games is passion. A desire to make something fun is absolutely essential. Teamwork is also vital, whether it’s creating a shared pool of knowledge out of everyone’s experiences, or banding together to face new challenges and explore new possibilities. PlatinumGames aims to create an environment where anyone, regardless of seniority, can stand proud as a creator and make a contribution. If you’re driven to create and ready to put it all on the line to make players smile, I think you’ll feel right at home.

We’re always looking for passionate people to help build our games and our company. I hope you’ll consider joining us, and making big changes to the games industry together.”

Kenichi Sato
President and CEO

What do you think? Are you excited to see how the company expands from here on out? Feel free to share your thoughts below!